Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is PARUS FINANCE UK Ltd’s 3rd Largest Position

PARUS FINANCE UK Ltd lifted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 196,870 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,383 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 11.7% of PARUS FINANCE UK Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. PARUS FINANCE UK Ltd’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $37,267,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,283,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,871,384,000 after acquiring an additional 337,031 shares during the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,584,000. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd increased its position in Alphabet by 11.1% during the third quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 278,825 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $46,257,000 after purchasing an additional 27,952 shares during the last quarter. Boston Family Office LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 0.8% during the third quarter. Boston Family Office LLC now owns 55,171 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $9,150,000 after purchasing an additional 419 shares during the period. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 18,907,528 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,135,813,000 after purchasing an additional 84,399 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $146.75 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The business has a 50 day moving average of $174.25 and a two-hundred day moving average of $176.82. The company has a market cap of $1.79 trillion, a P/E ratio of 18.23, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on GOOGL shares. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Alphabet from $184.00 to $167.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 31st. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 31st. DZ Bank lowered shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Wolfe Research boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.13.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 119,797 shares of company stock worth $21,089,470. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc offers various products and platforms in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets segments. The Google Services segment provides products and services, including ads, Android, Chrome, devices, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Play, Search, and YouTube.